Kuala Lumpur: The Asian Football Confederation has been informed by the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association of the withdrawal of its team from the AFC Under-19 Championship 2018 Qualifiers.
The AFC has accepted the decision.
The Northern Mariana Islands U-19 team were scheduled to play in Group J of the Qualifiers in Shepparton, Australia.
However, following Australia’s withdrawal as host of the Group, the Qualifiers were changed to a neutral venue which would incur extra costs to be paid by the participating Member Associations concerned.
Therefore, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association decided to withdraw from the AFC U-19 Championship 2018 Qualifiers.
Group J will now consist of Australia, DPR Korea and Hong Kong and the Qualifiers, scheduled for November 4 to November 8, 2017, will be played in the neutral venue of Hanoi, Vietnam.
Source: the-afc.com